21 May 1995 Anse a l’Ane, Martinique
Bloody awful night. One of the bars was playing very loud South American Samba type music until half past two in the morning. It was so loud that it was hard to sleep. Normally I don’t mind too much, but the music was live, had an irregular rhythm and discordant trumpets – a nightmare!
We did school work in the morning and then had a quiet day, writing, reading and clarinet practice. “Mistral” with Hubert, Ben (8) and Petra (11) turned up and stayed the night before pressing on with a guest. We met them in Hog Island in July. We finished off the puppets for the boys which was good fun.
22 May 1995 Anse a l’Ane, Martinique
School work in the morning. Then another quiet day doing our own things. The outboard was very stiff to pull this morning – I’ve noticed it getting a bit stiffer. I put extra oil in the petrol and adjusted the carb to run a bit richer. God knows what is causing it, but the engine starts OK.
23 May 1995 Anse a l’Ane to Fort de France, Martinique
Motored over to Fort De France and anchored behind “Moby Dick”. I rushed off into town armed with a long list. I needed to get some chandlery and some diving spares, but ended up with nothing. I met the others in McDonald’s for lunch and then retired back to the boat to recover. Jimmy and Marion came to dinner and we polished off 3 bottles of wine before they left at midnight.
24 May 1995 Fort de France, Martinique
We both felt rough this morning, so we cancelled school work and moped about. I went and bought a new pressure gauge, but couldn’t find any filters for the compressor. I tried to buy an ink cartridge for my printer, but they wanted £40 for one! The prices are incredible, everything is twice as much as it should be – I guess that I’m used to St Martin prices. Glenys’ keyboard cost $390 US in St Martin and it’s $940 here! We filled up with water. We all went to “Moby Dick” to watch a video after dinner.
25 May 1995 Fort de France, Martinique
School work in the morning. I was a lazy bugger all day and read a novel. Glenys did the same interspersed with lunch and dinner. It’s Ascension Day so everything is shut up. We’re sort of hanging about to see if Gareth stops by. He’s coming up from St Vincent on his way to Antigua and said that he might stop on the way. This anchorage is OK apart from the rolling from the ferries and the fact that we can’t swim because it’s too dirty.
26 May 1995 Fort de France to Grand Anse D’Arlet, Martinique
Glenys and I went shopping in the morning. I cleared in and out of customs and we motored around to Grand Anse D’Arlet which is quite a nice anchorage.
After lunch I was overcome with lethargy, but Glenys told me that we were going diving - what a brilliant dive it was, really pretty. I’m becoming very lazy – I keep thinking about what we’re going to do when we get back to England in two years time.
It’s crazy but the thought of the UK depresses me and I look forward to six o’clock when I can have a beer and slide into the quiet, surreal world of alcohol. I keep trying to stop but I always find excuses – tonight Glenys is cooking prawns in garlic mayonnaise. We obviously have to have a nice bottle of wine to accompany it, so it doesn’t matter if I have a beer first. We’re becoming very decadent – putting on weight, eating and drinking whatever takes our fancy. They call it middle age spread and I’ve got to stop it!
27 May 1995 Grand Anse D’Arlet to Rodney Bay, St Lucia
We left at about ten o’clock and motor sailed to St Lucia. We didn’t have enough wind to sail until the last half hour.
We anchored off the beach at three o’clock. It took us 3 attempts before we found some decent sand. I went straight into the marina but the mail hasn’t arrived from Carol. The Post Office has sent us a slip telling us that “Band-in-a-Box” has arrived and needs picking up. Unfortunately, it arrived on the 23 April and they say they only keep them for 28 days. I’ll be really cross if they’ve sent it back to the States.
28 May 1995 Rodney Bay, St Lucia
We did school work in the morning. In the afternoon we mooched about and Glenys cut my hair. I had a tootle and worried about “Band-in-a-Box”.
29 May 1995 Rodney Bay, St Lucia
Glenys did school work in the morning while I rushed off to Castries. I went to the Post Office and thankfully they still had my parcel containing “Band-in-a-Box”. I went to the music shop and had the middle joint of my clarinet repaired. While I was there I bought a Benny Goodman Course and a book on Benny Goodman solos.
When I got back, I asked Dave from “Trixolar” to come and look at my chain plates. He gave me a few pointers and I then discovered that he is learning to play the clarinet. We ended up on his boat having a beer with his wife, Julie.
30 May 1995 Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia
We went into the marina in the morning. I then went into town to check out the hardware stores and pick up some bits for fibre glassing. I took the tension off the shrouds and prepared the area around the chain plates. I got “Band-in-a-Box” working – fantastic! Dave and Julie from “Trixolar” came for dinner.
31 May 1995 Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia
Glenys did school work in the morning. I chiselled away the old fibreglass from the chain plates. I'm not surprised that they pulled away – the matting wasn’t wetted properly and just peeled away. As I started to chisel it away I noticed that the fibreglass on the strengthening rib for the hull is dry as well. It could be a mammoth task to put it all right, so I'm just going to redo the area that pulled away. I wonder if the same person did the port chain plates?
I was finished at two o’clock, so I had a shower and tried to get the fibreglass out of my skin – no chance, I’ll be itching for days! After lunch Glenys and I got the anchor chain out and laid it on the quay to paint marks every ten metres. Brett and Craig helped Glenys for about 10 minutes, before they got bored and went to the swimming pool.
Fifteen minutes later, Brett came back wailing – he’s very noisy when hurt! He’d dived in the pool, hit the bottom with his face and chipped one of his front teeth! Split it in half, in fact – panic! We rang a dentist, Glenys went into Castries with him and two hours later he was back as good as new. Fortunately, I had the foresight to take a picture of him before he went to the dentist!
I played with “Band-in-a-Box” while they were at the dentist – I put a song into the computer and it plays it back to me on our electronic keyboard. I’m going to have a lot of fun with this programme and I think that it will teach me a lot about group music.
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